Howa/Hogue 243 cal. M1500

R

rickyb

New member
Was or am looking for a varmit gun. Got my predator mag. in the mail and saw were you could buy this combo from legacy sports. Anybody know anything about these guns. I think the gun was a m1500. I like the Hogue stock and have one on my 7mm stw. and 10/22. Looks like they come in a lot of different calibers. I am looking at the 243. Thanks RIck
 
Reasonably good quality in the barreled action but plan
on glass bedding the stock. Once you get the thing to
shoot small groups, the rubber overmolded stock is great
for a walking around rifle. It's quiet and you can't
hurt it unless you run over it with a lawnmower.
 
I have a friend who has some howa 1500 in .223 and .22-250 and he likes them alot. They have pretty smooth actions and shoot well.
 
I also have a friend that has one in a 22-250, he loves it. I put a few round through it as well and it felt and shot good.
 
A friend of mines wife bought him one for Christmas and it feels fantastic to shoot, BUT the groups from factory ammo weren't real great at 100 yards they were just over an inch groups. And at 200 they were 2.5 inch groups. Not real great but I plan on reloading for him soon and think that the groups will tighten up a bit. Also I am going to tell him to get a trigger job which should help a bit. But if you are a reloader I think you will be fine with it.
 
I had a .243 varmint barreled Howa that was a great shooter but let me warn you they are heavy rifles in that configuration. Currently my Elk gun is a Weatherby Vanguard (Same thing as the Howas) with a standard taper barrel. I put it in a hogue stock with the full aluminum bedding and haven't looked back. Still lighter then a heavy barreled gun but is very accurate. My point is go with a standard cheep-o stock Howa and mount it to a full bedded hogue. I really think you will be pleased with that combo!
 
I have a .223 and .22-250 in the Howa line. They are both shooters. The 250 is my bread and butter gun. Also have a 250, .243 and .204 in Savage and they make a fine varmint rifle as well. Don't be afraid of the Howa.
 
I would say buy a Howa also. I have one in .308 with the boyd sport stock and it is a fantastic shooter. But it also has the heavy barell and is heavy, but it makes for good exercise when carrying it around. But the regular barell seems to be different in shooting performance. The other thing that I forgot to mention was that I have only tried the 80 grain bullets so far it may shoot better with heavier or lighter bullets.
 
Thanks guys for your response. I think I will look at a couple of pawn shops here and see If I can't find a bolt action 243. I would like to get a Hogue stock for it and have some custom work done. If I can't find a good used one I will give Legacysports a call and order it. Thanks again. Rick
 
If you are planning on replacing the stock anyway, why not just buy a barreled action? It'll save you some money and you won't have a extra stock that you have to get rid of.
 
All the Howa's I have seen have been pretty decent shooters (all light barreled guns in varmint calibers - sub .75" groups at 100yards with handloads). Although I am partial to Savages, I wouldn't have a problem buying an Howa if I wanted a good shooting rifle at a very reasonable price.
 
I won a Howa 1500 Stainless/Synthetic Varminter, in
22-250 Rem, at the local DU banquet. I usually put a scope
on the rifles I win, check them for signs of accuracy, and
most are trade bait for something I really want. I figured
this one would end up that way. I strapped on a Weaver 16V,
that I have laying around, and shot a few break in rounds.
They went sub MOA. OK. Built up a few loads, that usually
shoot well in 22-250s, and adjusted the trigger down to
just under a lb. The hand loads went into .5 MOA groups,
or better...Hmmmm! So replaced the scope with a new Nikon
Buckmaster SF, and I worked up a 4064 load that was
putting 50 gr. Vmax bullets into pretty consistent .4 MOA
average groups, with a the best in the high 2's. OK now
I am impressed. I just started working with VV140, instead
of 4064, and they are looking at least as good, average
wise, and with a bit more tweaking, I might get the average
down to .3 MOA. Not bad for banquet gun. Yup, I am keeping
this HOWA.

I have a Howa 1500, in 300 WSM, that I won a few years
earlier, and that one is still with me, too. I am typically
a Tikka fan, for low volume shooting factory guns, and a
Savage fan, for high volume shooters, so I can replace the
barrels myself. But I have two Howas, now and would quickly
make it 3, if it was a rifle I wanted, and the deal was
right. My luck has been good with them, accuracy wise.
Mine are not the smoothest operating, but I have not
had issues with them mechanically. They just feel a little
rough.

Squeeze
 
Even the light barreled Howa's shoot well.

Every .243 that I have loaded for, mine and friends', have shot the 70 grain Nosler BT well. A friend's Vanguard (Howa) would shoot 3 shots into just over 1/2" at 100 yards. I couldn't get the lighter bullets, or the 75 grain Vmax to shoot well out of any of the three .243/6mm rifles I own. If you want to try the lighter bullets, go ahead. But, if you can't get them to shoot to your satisfaction, try the 70 grain Nosler. I have used 4064, 4895, 4350 and currently use 3031. And, they all shot well in warm weather. But, of those powders, the 3031 performed the best when it got down around 25 degrees, while still giving me 3425 fps. and 5/8" 3 shot groups at 100 yards in cold and in warm temps. The cold temps did require a powder increase of one grain to bring the velocity back up to 3425, however.
 
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